Question of Fader Peak Levels..... And Volume of CDs Pressed

[Target Earth Ent]

ok.....
I just switched to the Protools format...
got the waves gold thing goin on....
soundin good....
last night I finished my first protools song and went through the entire process to CD. The faders seem to show red very very easily. But I considered what the red was telling me. However.... the CD sounds good... but is significantly lower then the material I've done in my old but trusty VS. Should I ignore the Red and push for the volume I want while listening out for distortion? My Test for my albums is on this CD player in the studio. When I put the volume on 5... it should be significantly cracking. What should I do?

[ReniuR]

You got it. Use the meters as a guide, but never forget that if you don't hear distortion, it most likely isn't clipping.

Also, protools has softclip built into every channel strip including the master. This acts kind of as a limiter. So, as well as distortion, also listen for if it's limiting too much on your master.

[Allen Hallada]

And put your Waves L1 to use here. Should give you a little boost in the end.
Allen [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[keny]

The peak level indcator represents 0db and not necescarily distortion. Use a limiter on really hot tracks though, trying to get the signal as loud as possible without peaking. Good luck with the C1 though, that thing is a complete can of worms. I've read the manual threee times and still don't get it. I use the digirack limiter because it takes up less cpu.

[marcusb]

don't forget the channel meters are pre-fader by default !

the softclip is handy for the OCCASIONAL transient on say an accoustic kick or snare track but realistically aim to optimise your gain structure to avoid this

look at your inserts if you are doing a major boost on an EQ, or any other insert processor, set the ouutput gain of to avoid clipping. Ie. with the waves REQ, if you are doing significant boosts you SHOULD always reudce the output gain to compensate.

BTW please, for the life of you, don't use the L1 as a crutch ... its good for finalising rough or final mixes but if you are dropping more than 2-3db on peaks go back to go and start again.

Marcus - ofthecoalitionofgoodmixesthataren't trashedbymisuseoftechnology [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]